The Portland daily press., 1887-01-01
FROM WASHINGTON.
Preparations for the New Years
Receptions at the Capital.
The Logan Funeral Procession Very
Large and impressive.
President Cleveland Advised Not to
Attend the Funeral Services.

Senator Logan on Sunday, will close tomor
row with the usual New Years reception
and gaiety.
The death Of Gen. Logan has Of course
had subduing effect upon the receptions
dinners ETC., which usually make the weeI
between Christmas and New Years one Of
the iveliest of the season, but in spite Of
this there have been quite a number of socia
gatherings of more or less note, the mos
important being the dinner given to the Cab
net by Secretary Manning. on Monday even.
ing. the O'Clock tea gwen by Postmaster
General and Mrs. Villas, on Tuesday, al
which Miss Villas made her debut into Wash
ington society, and the dancing party given
by the Letters in the magnificent Blaine
mansion on Dupont Circle. The Cabinet
ladies generally omitted their usual Wednes.
day reception, and the Illinois ladies in the
city all will close their houses TO callers on
New Years day, in respect to the memory
of Gen. Logan. 1t was feared at one time
that the President would be compelled by
his illness to give up his regular New Years
reception tomorrow, but he has so far recoy-
cred that they will undoubtedly be held as
usual. The usual breakfast to the diplomat
ic corps, at the house of the Secretary OF
State, will. however, be omitted this year
as the Secretary's family is still in mourning
for the death of Mrs. and Miss Bayard. The
Secretary win, however,as usual, present the
diplomats to the President and the ladies al
the White House reception.
The reception tomorrow will be in accord
ance with the usual programme, the Cabinet
| haiuO raaaix-o1 fret ri ft,t hxv he
Diplomatic Corps the Senators and Repre-
sentatiyes, Justices of the Supreme and Dis
trict Courts, the Army and Navy, the Grand
Army and veterans Of other wars, and final
ly the general public. Last year the public
reception lasted two hours, and about 5000
people shook hands with the President.
This year, owing to the Presidents recent
illness. the doors will probably be closed
promptly at 2 O'Clock, and those who have
not succeeded in getting in before that time
will be shut out. However much the custom
of making New Years calls may languish
and die at other cities. it is not likely to do
SO here as long as the White House reception
exists as an example.
1t is fact, however, that even here the
custom is not so universal as it formerly was
and there are many houses throughout the
city where mot at,home" is the order Of the
day. Very many also do not 60 to the ex-
tent of a formal reception with wines and
Refreshments, but are at home and receive
any guests who may call, in an informal
manner. On the whole ii is very probable
that but for the impetus given the custom
here by the Presidents reception, it would
relapse into the same state Of ''inocuous des-
uetude" here that it has in many other Of
the large cities Of .he country.
As yet but few of the congressman who
went home for the holidays have returned,
bat the first of the week will bring them
here, and Tuesday will probably find ma
| jority of them in their seats.
| Leaden skies and cold, drizzling rain, to-
gether with an inch of ice and snow in the
streets, rendered today as disagreeable for
| Gen. Logan's funeral as could be imagined.
But in spite Of the bad weather. an eager
crowd filed the rotunda at an early hour in
the morning, and when, at II o'clock the
funeral procession entered the Senate cham
Der, the galleries were filed to oyerflowing.
| The services in the chamber were very i'm
| pressive, and were listened to in deep silence
by the throng that filed the floor and galle-
| ries. The floral decorations were very pro-
fuse and beautiful, the desks of the Presi-
| dent and Secretary of the Senate being bur
led in mass of flowers, the casket being
| placed Immediately in front of them. On
the conclusion of the ceremonies, which oc-
cupied one hour, the procession was formed
at the east front and escorted the remains
| through the city to the cemetery. Ir spite
| Of the falling rain and sleety streets, the
procession was one Of the largest and most
| impressive that ever moved on a like process
sion in this city, The whole ceremony was
in every way in keeping with the life aud
character of the dead hero.
The President Advised Not to Attend
Logan's Funeral.
DR.. Reilly, the Presidents physician, had
| long conference with the President and Mrs.
| Cleveland yesterday, on the question of
whether it was prudent for Mr.. Cleveland to
| attend the funeral services at the Capitol.
The President was very anxious to be pres
ent and strongly insisted that he was able to
| do so by using reasonable care going to and
| from his carriage. DR.. Reilly interposed
| most decidedly, saying that his ride day be-
| fore yesterday had been taken in spite Of his
| objections to the contrary, and that he
| would not wish to assume the responsibility
| while the weather remained bad.
The Bartholcii Statue Unsafe.
Major David Parker Heap, engineer and
| secretary Of the lighthouse board, while in
| New York few days ago visited the Bar
| tholdi statue and made a careful inspection
| of it in view of the fact that it will proba-
| bly, be placedss in charge of the lighthouse
board. After ascending to the top of the
| figure through the interior passage, Major
| Heap says visitors should be restricted from
| going up into the dome of the statue to the
landing where the torch is lighted, for the
reason that he believed it to be unsafe.
FURRY In the Navy Department
| The Navy Department was thrown into a
futter Of excitement this morning by the
| circulation Of blank form to be filed by
| the clerks Seventeen questions are asked
| the clerks, with uiew to obtaining their de-
| partment history. The Secretary announces
| that the questions need cause no alarm, as
they are only intended to perfect the records
of the department The department Off
| eials say that the Secretary suspects that
changes have been made without his kn0wl-
edge, and he now desires to discover the ex-
act status of each of his subordinates.
Talk over the Plans of the New
Catholic University.
The dinner given to young Miss Caldwell a
Gibbons and Bishop Spaulding of Peoria.
At the time it was thought that the prelates
attended solely for the purpose of joining
in the celebration of the birthday of the
young lady who has been such a good finan-
cial friend of the Catholic church. Now ii
appears that the dinner had for its object
the bringing together of the three persons
who are most intimately connected with the
Catholic university movement, Miss Cald-
well, who gave $3O0,000 to the building fund,
Cardinal Gibbons, the head Of the board of
trustees, and Bishop Spaulding, the prospec-
tive president of the university. The pres
ence at the dinner of Bishop Spalding Is re-
garded as conclusive evidence that he is to
be the head eff the institution. He came
from Peoria especially to meet Miss Cald-
well, and while here gave some intimation
that he was to be hon0red with the presi-
dency and would accept ii. However, the
Bishop visits the capitol quite fire quently,
and is usually the guest of Senator Vance OF
North Carolina, who has great admiration
for the brilliant young churchman. Two
winters ago. while visiting the Senator, he
became quite figure in society here. He re-
ceived invitations from all the social leaders
and was welcome guest wherever he went.
| He soon gained the reputation Of being one
of the brightest takers here.
Politics and all questions of the day seemed
| as familiar to him as theology, and he had a
| plentiful supply of society small-talk His
manner was highly polished, his ways at
tractive to young and old, and especially
| was he admired by young ladies.
Afopa of Mrs VanQafs rapantfnOc ha xuaG